Pre-Conference Field Trip | FT00 View all field trips
Date: September 29, 2026
Location: Departing from, and returning to Salt Lake City, Utah
Leaders: Jennifer Ellis and Patrick Redmond
Capacity: 40
A limited number of discounted spaces are available to students on a first come, first served basis.
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Bingham Canyon is one of the world's largest and most iconic porphyry copper deposits. Located southwest of Salt Lake City, the open pit is more than 4 km wide and over 1 km deep, providing extraordinary exposure through a giant Cu-Au-Mo porphyry system.
First developed in the early 1900s, Bingham is widely regarded as the birthplace of large-scale open-pit porphyry copper mining and has played a foundational role in the development of modern porphyry deposit models. Through 2011, the operation had produced 2.66 billion tonnes of ore averaging 0.74% Cu, 0.035% Mo, 0.448 g/t Au, and 3.29 g/t Ag. Continued large-scale production through 2025, including annual copper output of approximately 160,000–200,000 tonnes together with significant gold, silver, and molybdenum by-products, reinforces Bingham's position as one of the world's great porphyry systems.
Trip leaders Patrick Redmond and Jennifer Ellis both conducted PhD research on the Bingham Canyon porphyry deposit. Redmond's published work documented the evolution of the giant Cu-Au-Mo orebody through successive porphyry intrusive-hydrothermal cycles and the controls on high-grade bornite-rich mineralization. Ellis' research examined how thermal stress and evolving stress fields influenced fracture development, vein orientations, and fluid flow within the deposit. Together, their work combines detailed mine-scale observations with broader insights into the ore-forming processes responsible for the formation of giant porphyry copper deposits.
The trip will include an overview stop to view the active open pit (though we will not go into the pit), followed by technical presentations and a core review session integrating physical drill core with digital core data from multi-sensor scanning. Participants will examine how digital datasets can be combined with traditional geological observations at a range of scales to support interpretation of veins, alteration, mineralization, and ore controls within the deposit.
Lunch and snacks are provided.
Jennifer Ellis
Rio Tinto
Jennifer is a structural and economic geologist whose PhD research at Cardiff University focused on fracture development, thermal stress, and vein formation within intrusive and porphyry systems, including the Bingham Canyon Cu-Au-Mo deposit. Her work integrated numerical modelling, analogue experiments, and field observations to investigate the controls on fracture evolution, vein orientations, and fluid flow in magmatic-hydrothermal systems. Jennifer has held technical and leadership roles with Rio Tinto, including Principal Advisor Structural Geology at Resolution Copper and Superintendent, Mine Geology & Resource at Rio Tinto Kennecott, where she leads ore body knowledge, geological modelling, and resource strategy for one of the world’s largest open-pit copper mines. She is recognized for her expertise in structural geology, orebody knowledge, and the integration of geological modelling with operational mining and resource development.
Patrick Redmond
GeologicAI
Patrick is an economic geologist with more than 30 years of international mineral exploration and mining experience. He completed his PhD research at Stanford University on the Bingham Canyon porphyry Cu-Au-Mo deposit, and his subsequent published work on Bingham Canyon remains widely cited in porphyry copper research. He has held senior exploration and geoscience leadership roles with Teck Resources, KoBold Metals, and Copper Mountain Mining. Patrick is recognized for his expertise in magmatic-hydrothermal ore systems and has a strong interest in geoscience education, mentoring, and training the next generation of exploration geologists. He is currently President of Resource Exploration Strategies at GeologicAI.
This trip is in person. Travel during the trip is included in the registration fee. It is the responsibility of each participant to coordinate their own travel to/from the arrival/departure points. Please review the trip itinerary and contact SEG with any questions.
* Specific details will be provided closer to the start date.
Early Deadline: July 29, 2026 Regular Deadline: September 15, 2026
Email Duncan Proctor at [email protected] to be added to the waitlist. View other field trips.